Like their scrubs? Roscoe native a costumer for NBC comedy

Thursday

Dec 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 27, 2007 at 7:44 AM

Alexandra Dewey has the kind of job young girls dream of: She gets paid to shop. This Roscoe native is a Hollywood girl now, a costumer for the sitcom “Scrubs.” While the television show has numerous costumers — those who design the clothes and those who dress the actors — Dewey is the one who gets to hit the mall in search of that perfect outfit.

Elizabeth Davies

Alexandra Dewey has the kind of job young girls dream of: She gets paid to shop.

This Roscoe native is a Hollywood girl now, a costumer for the sitcom “Scrubs.” While the television show has numerous costumers — those who design the clothes and those who dress the actors — Dewey is the one who gets to hit the mall in search of that perfect outfit.

Hobbies: Photography, taking in live music shows and art exhibitions, and enjoying outdoor activities

“I don’t think a lot of people realize how much time and effort goes into what every actor in every scene in every movie or show wears,” said Dewey, 29. “We gather the costumes all over the place. From the big department stores — Saks, Bloomingdales — to small boutiques to the costumes houses and even Target.”

When she receives a script, Dewey gets together with the show’s designer to decide what type of costumes they’ll need for the episode.

“Since the show’s characters all work in a hospital and wear medical scrubs, many people ask what else there is to costume,” she said. “But other scenes inevitably appear, as many regular followers of the show know.

“Every week there are either flashbacks, fantasies, elaborate stunts or multiple scenes outside the hospital. Then I go to costume houses and pull period clothing, or we have costumes built especially for the stunt or fantasy.”

Dewey got her job at the end of the show’s fourth season. Three seasons later, she’s come to enjoy dressing a few characters in particular.

“I think that my favorite character to dress is Elliott,” she said. “Now that she is a resident doctor and no longer wears scrubs, we get to find her cute little ’40s-inspired blouses and skirts with high Marc Jacobs pumps and little dresses to go under her lab coats that we have custom-made for a slim fit.”

And if you think those actors look particularly svelte in their hospital garb, there’s good reason: Some are blessed with custom-made designer scrubs.

Like many other shows in Hollywood, “Scrubs” is temporarily shut down for the writers strike. Dewey is hopeful the strike will be resolved after the holidays so that work can resume on the show, which is in its seventh and final season.

“It would be too sad if we didn’t get a proper finale after so many years,” Dewey said.

Still, there is plenty of work ahead for this designer. She has been a costumer on such films as “Date Movie” and “Cougar Club,” and shopped for the pilot of “Friday Night Lights.” She did costumes for the “Caveman” pilot and worked briefly for the “Dukes of Hazzard.”

Working alongside other costumers, she met someone who later went to work for “CSI: Miami.” That costumer remembered that Dewey had designed her own line of jewelry and used recently it in a fashion-show scene on this season’s “CSI.”

“I started Dewi Designs almost exactly a year ago,” Dewey said. “I was making pieces just for myself, and it evolved from there. I hand-sew all of my pieces out of thread, and on some pieces add semi-precious gems or chain.”

Dewey, who has a bachelor’s degree in art/photography, uses nature, architecture and fine art as inspirations. The line is available in a few Los Angeles boutiques and Dewey was thrilled to have the line sell out at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles.

Moving forward, Dewey hopes to continue working on her two passions: costuming and jewelry. While she says the work in Hollywood can be hectic, she can’t pass up the chance to keep shopping for a living.

“I love the idea of creating characters and trying to think where I would shop or what I would wear if I were the character,” she said.

On the Web

To see more of Alexandra’s jewelry or to place an order, visit dewidesigns.com.